Increasing Prominence of Female Politicians

The human society has always been male dominated since prehistoric times with some rare exceptions. The dominion of male human population over its female counterparts has been out of question. But that scenario never remained same. During the last few centuries the human society in general has faced the most radical changes in every aspect of human lives. Thus politics was one of the most affected aspects of human society.

The process of modernization and emergence of democracy as one of the major and domination political systems has given opportunities to those who were never considered eligible for taking part in politics. This paper will discuss the rise and prominence of female politicians as one of the important phenomenon of the modern time. Increasing Prominence of Women in Politics: Today gender discrimination is vigorously condemned through out the world and men and women are given equal rights and opportunities in every field and aspect of human society.

This has changed the whole scenario of the world and those professions which were once considered to be masculine in nature have permitted women to take part if eligible. Politics is no exception and women have gained some opportunities to take part in politics. The 20th Century has seen some major female politicians which played important part in world politics. In different continents there are different female politicians which have played significant role in their countries politics.

Europe has been the first continent to give women significant role in politics. Ex British Prime minister Margaret Thatcher is a good example of emergence of women in European politics. United States despite never giving any woman a chance of becoming a president has given opportunity to women in politics and we have recently seen two female Secretaries of States the second most important and powerful political designation in the country.

There is also a significant number of Congress women and senators serving there country. Asia with is thought to be the most conservative in allowing female politicians to take part has shown remarkable progress in this regard. We have seen Indra Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Khalida Zia and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as premiers of their respective countries India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Philippines. In India politician other then the Gandhi family has also won power like Uma Bharati and Vasundhara Raje of BJP.

(Singh) Africa has also joined the league as in Liberia in the recent elections the chances of having the country’s first women president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf premier are very strong. The number of parliamentarians in different countries is increasing day by day. Rwanda’s 49% of parliamentarians are women. South Africa has a female deputy president, while Mozambique and Zimbabwe has female vice presidents. This shows a remarkable progress in the African Continent in this regard. (Mclaughlin & Hartil, 2005) Conclusion: The overall global political scenario has shown a significant change in the society.

Even in countries where women were prohibited to cast votes have allowed female politicians to appear as candidates in elections this has further boosted the prominence and involvement of women in politics and their numbers and role is increasing day by day. We can hope by the end of 21st Century to see a world where the balance of power will not remain in the favor of man only.

References:

McLaughlin & Hartil. (2005), The Rise of Africa’s Women Politicians, The Monitor, Retrieved from the World Wide Web on July 21, 2006, http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1012/p06s01-woaf.html